Thursday, February 18, 2010

There's a spirited discussion underway by people commenting on an earlier blog posting about high-speed rail, with conservatives predicting the need for big operating subsidies.

I would predict that these same people will scream the loudest when the state adds tolls to certain stretches of interstate and then goes all the way to fee-for-driving, with a mandatory bar code or reader, like an I-Pass box, on your car registering use and a monthly bill or credit card debit coming your way.

These systems are already in use in congested spots or time slots, like rush hours, or in downtown London, and Singapore.

So why not on I-94 in the Zoo Interchange, or on Madison's Beltline, or on a bridge in Green Bay?

Let's ask the question.

If there was a collection for the full cost of driving - - road repairs, policing, plowing, rebuilding, and, God forbid, the broader impacts such as dirty air and lung disease, for example - - the costs would greatly exceed the thirty-some cents now paid as the gas tax.

Do the anti-rail folks want to step up and pay the full cost of driving?

The gas tax, onerous as it is in Wisconsin, where it is the second-steepest in the nation, does not pay all the drivers' bills, thus requiring additional subsidies that communities (people ) pay through property taxes, and what the state and feds (people) throw in every year in additional fees and the income tax.

The state can't afford to build a toll system with new infrastructure, let alone new government employees to run them. Think of the booths, cameras, scanners, ez passes, lane expansions it would take to accomplish the toll system. It would take years to build this and years before the state would ever approve of it. Even if the DOT had approval, where does the state get the up front cash?

Banned in Milwaukee

The right, suburbanites say "No light rail for Milwaukee."

James Rowen's Bio

James Rowen, a writer and consultant, has worked for newspapers, and as the senior Mayoral staffer, in Madison and Milwaukee, WI. This blog began on 2/2/ 2007. Posts run also at various news sites, including The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's "Purple Wisconsin."